Becoming One of Them
by fiftycrushes
Summary: A old-ish and improved story by me, starring the lovely Oliver Wood and introducing (in first-person) Claire D'Etoile, who after 4 years, finally is accepted by Hogwarts.
1. Default Chapter

The new and improved - BECOMING ONE THEM ladies and gentlemen!  
  
Have fun!  
  
BTW - sadly, I don't have the money to afford the very handsome, very rich Oliver or any of his friends. Only the silly Claire.  
  
Can you love me? Will you love me? These are the last fatal words I spoke before slipping into a dark sleep in his arms. Would he help me, or would he hold me tight until I was pulled from his grip. He was my best friend and yet, he never once told me everything. We met and we fell in love. It was a love deeper than marriage, deeper than family. He let me into his world, the world that I would never have found, never have been a part of, if he wasn't there. He tested every limit, but I was the one in pain. And it all started when I moved to England.  
  
I was 15, or close to it. I had the silly dreams and worries of a teenager. All I really cared about was if I could visit London and go shopping. How different would it be from America - this I wanted to find out. My family had bought a little house in the country, near enough to London that I wouldn't miss a thing, but far enough out for my mum to relax. It was late June and rather muggy, as England usually was, but I still made it to the city with a history.  
  
Overwhelmed could not explain the feeling that went through my whole body as I stepped out onto the cobblestone street and took in the blurry scene around me. I saw shops that had been there for at least 200 years. There were more bicyclists zooming down the road than in the Tour de France.  
  
I turned around slowly, making sure that I saw every shop possible, every landmark that I could. With each turn I gained speed, melting everything together in a beautiful swirl. I spread out my arms and laughed like any child would. It was a full laugh, releasing all the guffaws and chuckles into one big howling laugh. But when one is spinning, one can't see things clearly. All of a sudden, I landed on the ground with a terrible thud.  
  
"Are you okay down there?" The words gradually made it to my ears. A hand reached down and helped me to my feet. After the head rush, I was able to see the tall boy that had bumped into me.  
  
"What were you doing, whirlin' around like tha'?" he asked in a Scottish accent.  
  
"I don't know," I answered groggily, "trying to make myself sick?"  
  
"An' you would have succeeded if I hadn't've knocked you over?"  
  
"I suppose." He gave a small grin and introduced himself.  
  
"I'm Oliver Wood," he said, offering his hand.  
  
"Claire D'Etoile," I responded, taking it with the hand that wasn't rubbing the back of my head. He had a strong grip, but it was soft enough that I didn't worry. Looking straight at him, I found he wasn't all that taller than me, only by a head. His smile was gentle, saying don't worry, I've got you.  
  
"Now what is an American doing in London alone? You're not just visiting, are you?" He must have noticed my horrible western drawl.  
  
"I'm visiting London, but I live in the suburbs outside of the city."  
  
"I guess you could say I was visiting. I just got back from school and waiting for my father lets me take time to look around." We talked for another half hour until he asked me what I wanted to hear.  
  
"Listen, do you mind if I bought you a drink? I know this great place down the road."  
  
"Sure, but I need to exchange some money first." I showed him a handful of bills and pointed to the bank across the street.  
  
He turned to look and then nodded his head. "Here, I'll meet you there. Just head down to the end of the street and make a left. You should see me."  
  
I agreed and we set off in our different ways. I was a little miffed that he didn't wait for me, but we didn't know each other and he was probably scared.  
  
I left with my pockets full of jingling coins. Taking the extremely short directions Oliver gave me, I saw him sitting on the wall in front of a bookstore. 'How quaint,' I thought, beaming at him.  
  
"Welcome, my American Beauty," he said bowing me into a grubby little place next to the store. The grin became fixed on my face as I looked around. It was more like an inn where sailors would stay than a coffee shop, but, like my grandmother says, the best places are usually the smallest.  
  
"What do you want? Tom can fix up almost anything."  
  
"Um, just a soda pop, please."  
  
"And a butter beer for me, Tom."  
  
"Butter beer?" I asked skeptically.  
  
"Yeah, it's a, uh, drink, unique to this place." He seemed a bit nervous, so to calm him as much as girl could, I started up a new conversation.  
  
"So where do you go to school?" I tried. It only made him sketchier.  
  
"A small boarding school a few hours away, I take the train there with the others," he finally said. By this time I had the strangest feeling that the bartender was watching us. A shiver ran down my arms making me cringe.  
  
"Are you cold? Do you want my jacket?" Oliver said earnestly offering it to me.  
  
"No, just a little chill that's all," I said, giving a weak smile. He accepted it and changed the subject of our short conversation.  
  
"You said you live outside of London in which town?"  
  
"I think it's called Godric's Hollow. It's really small, but very nice."  
  
"Yes, I know, I live there too!"  
  
"Really? You're not pulling my leg?"  
  
"No!" he said, getting more excited by each word, "I live in the white house on Griffin Street, the one on the corner."  
  
"That one! Oh, I love that house! We would have bought it if it was for sale!"  
  
"I'm glad you didn't!" he laughed, "then we wouldn't have met!"  
  
We sat and talked for an hour buying drink after drink, barely noticing the other people coming in and disappearing into thin air and walking into fireplaces. When I finally looked down at my watch, I was an hour late in meeting my mother to go home.  
  
"Oh, gosh! Oliver, thank you, but I have to go!" I ran away saying a quick goodbye and pulled out my cell to call her. 


	2. The Feeling's She Had

Maybe it's short, maybe it's sweet, but I hope to G that you review to me!  
  
Funny huh? All of the chapters are going up simultaneously so read it as it comes.  
  
Once again I have nothing to my name. Not even this computer. Maybe the CD, but other than that, I mean, it's all my parents. Or dad's. it even says so...  
  
I spent the rest of the month indoors singing to my radio and writing to my friends and had almost forgotten Oliver. On one particular day, I was in the breakfast-nook, lip singing to my favorite song from America. (I had managed to by the band's CD before we left.) Dancing these silly steps I made up, I leaned against the wall and 'sang' desperately into my hairbrush when a sound came from the window.  
  
I opened my eyes to find a boy positively rolling with laughter on the grass. I stopped the whining CD player and ran to the back door.  
  
"Oliver! What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to hide my enjoyment of seeing him.  
  
"Well, at first it was to talk to you, now I think I came to see a concert!"  
  
I fought down my urge to throw my arms around his neck, wanting to save that move for when he would (possibly) propose to me. I attempted to look mean and annoyed, but failed completely.  
  
"To tell the truth, I was wondering if you would take a walk with me. You can actually see your hand in front of your face today!"  
  
"Okay, just give me a sec."  
  
"You're a girl - I'll give you five!" he added with a snicker.  
  
I rushed around the house looking for my shoes, a hat, the hairbrush, glasses. Where's that bloody hairbrush! I stopped short in the hallway. 'Duh!' I ran back to the nook, then to the living room to tell my parents where I was going and back to the nook again. I shut the door and hurried to meet Oliver in the street. Once again, all we did was walk and talk, this time about what the U.S was like.  
  
"I'd love to go to America when I get out of school. My dad says its marvelous, all the people and things to do."  
  
"Your dad's been there? What does he do?" I knew it was rude, but it went along with the conversation, right?  
  
"He does, err, international relations for the company he works for." I had done it again; I made the guy nervous when I needed him to loosen up. I stopped talking for a while, or at least until the shiver ran down my spine.  
  
"Are you cold still?"  
  
"No, I just - " I turned around to see if someone was there and saw a car come screaming around the corner and down the road towards us.  
  
"Oliver! Look out!" I shouted, pulling him to the ground. We fell on top of each other and rolled to the sidewalk. The car zoomed past and kept on going.  
  
"M-maybe we sh-should walk back to your house, hmm?" Oliver said after a minute of sitting in shocked silence. I nodded and we slowly hiked back arm in arm.  
  
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By the time we got home, the sky was a mix of blue and pink with the faintest stars on the eastern horizon. Instead of going in, I sat on the porch and looked up at the heavens. Oliver faltered for a moment and sat beside me.  
  
"Did you know that some people still believe that the Greek gods put them up there?" I started, "I love the stars. I would believe in any explanation as to why they're there."  
  
I felt him turn his head to look at me and he said, "Why? Why do you love something that is so far away?"  
  
"Because they are. I'm weird like that. I'm fond of anything that's a mystery. Like magic, I know that lots of it is optical illusion. But what if it was real, just out of my reach." I stretched out my arms to emphasize my point, like it needed to be.  
  
"Just out of reach." he whispered to himself, leaning back on his elbows. For a long time we sat there and watched the sky turn to a velvety black and the stars brighten.  
  
Finally, Oliver whispered good-bye in my ear and stood up to leave. He spun to face me at the bottom of the steps, but thought better and left down the walkway. 


	3. I'll never tell

On to chap 3. Honestly, why are people still reading this? What demonic being possessed you stupid souls and told you to click the 'next' button? I mean, come on, I'm not even Mme. Rowling, I have nothing!  
  
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He would come over every night to watch the stars with me. That's all we would do each evening, sit and talk about the stars. Of course, on our walks we would speak of other things, mostly ourselves. Oliver and I were becoming the best of friends, sharing secrets we wouldn't tell our own friends.  
  
Especially one that couldn't be told to anyone.  
  
One sunset in mid July, we sat on the lawn in my backyard, intertwined, his arms around my waist, my head resting on his shoulder. He had been awfully quiet and I swear he was avoiding my eyes, which was a shame because he had such beautiful eyes.  
  
"Oliver, what's wrong? You always tell me everything, but I think I'm in the dark about something," I asked, giving him the 'eye'. All he did was sigh and look down at me.  
  
"Please Oliver, it's me, Claire, the girl you entrusted with the secret of Mr. Satin."I whined. I finally got a small grin and he spoke.  
  
"I don't know if I should tell you this one, my dad doesn't think I should."  
  
"Oh, pooh on your dad, he doesn't know me and besides, who would I share it with? The dog?" Again, all he did was give a weak smile.  
  
"His opinion in this affair is very.. experienced."  
  
"Oh, the experienced opinion maker. In that case, our conversation is over." I stood up to leave, but he held my wrist to stop me. I brought my free arm back as if to smack him and he shrunk away.  
  
"Don't worry, I wouldn't hit you. I'm not Drama Queen material."  
  
"Please, sit back down," he begged, "It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I don't think you'll believe me. The story's rather odd."  
  
I flopped on the ground next to him. "Try me," I whispered with a sneer. He got up and started pacing. Several times he opened his mouth to speak and shut it, making him look very much like a fish. I waited patiently, knowing that sooner or later it would come out (he could never keep something from me for long). When he stopped walking, he kneeled before me and looked directly into my eyes.  
  
"I'll tell you, as long as it stays on your lips and you don't laugh," he said seriously. I nodded and knew it had to be more important than his other stories.  
  
"Well, Claire, I'm." he took in a breath, "I'm a wizard. I cast spells, I do magic, use a wand. You know that school that I go to? It's for other witches and wizards. I hope you can believe me, I would die if you thought I was nuts." He said this all very fast and in that one breath. It took me a second to let it sink into my head. At length, I addressed him.  
  
"It does seem very astonishing that I'm friends with a - a wizard. That would be reason enough to try and hide it from me."  
  
"I didn't want to hide it, I just didn't know how you would take it." he tried desperately, taking my hand.  
  
"So you probably thought I was really stupid talking about magic like that last week."  
  
"No, that's what made me want to tell you, I knew you wouldn't mock me." I licked my lips, hoping it might calm my nerves. "I promise you, Oliver, I won't speak a word to anyone, but I think I should go to sleep now. Good night, see you tomorrow." I left abruptly with my mind still spinning from what he told me.  
  
I lay on my bed with my hands behind my head, thinking of what this all meant.  
  
'If I was his best friend, and he really was a wizard, than he could show me all the wizard places and things. And what if we were to marry?'  
  
My thoughts were going into things that haven't even been brought up as issues yet, things like marriage should never cross my mind again. Why was my brain in such turmoil over a boy?  
  
But he isn't just a boy, this voice said in the back of my head, he's a wizard and can do things, terrible things.  
  
"No," I said aloud, "I won't let this bother me. We will just stay normal until he has to leave." And with that, I fell asleep.  
  
Hmmm. Sounds a little short, huh? Not much drama either. Might hafta go and change that.  
  
R/R! 


	4. Letter in the Mail

OMG! I feel so loved! If only by one person, but whatever. PokElilpupE, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou::br eathe in::thankyouthankyouthbankyouthankyou.....  
  
Yes, I am Mrs. Rowling. I am currently living somewhere in England, becoming a hermit as to write my sixth book without being mauled by fans.  
  
Yeah, right  
  
The next morning I woke up feeling funny, a little cold maybe, like something was going to happen. I made it down to breakfast rather slowly; the stairs didn't want to stay still. I didn't eat anything anyway - all I did was lie on the couch with my head on the ceiling. I stayed there all morning and most of the afternoon. That is, until the mail arrived.  
  
"Mail!" my dad called as he came home from work, "Looks like something from Lauren, she always has weird envelopes."  
  
I sat up, only vaguely interested in why anybody was writing to me - I hadn't given my address to anyone. I picked up a tan letter with green writing on it.  
  
Slowly, I tore it open and skimmed through the note and its contents. My hand flew to my mouth as the full meaning hit me. Dashing to get dressed, I ran to Oliver's; he had to read this.  
  
"OLIVER!" I screamed, coming towards his house, "Oliver," banging on his door, "Please answer!" I went to knock another time, but it was opened as I brought my fist up.  
  
"Um, Mr. Wood, I presume," I whispered sheepishly, bringing it back down.  
  
He was a tall, bulky man, one not to be messed with, but I had to see Oliver.  
  
"Is Oliver around?" I asked as politely as possible.  
  
"I'm here," I heard him say, appearing from behind his father's back, "Dad, this is Claire, the girl I was telling you about."  
  
"Yes, well, I was expecting a boy to come asking for your sister, not vice- versa," he gave a short chuckle, "You can see him, as long as you don't hurt my Baby Girl." Mr. Wood shook his finger at me like I was the boyfriend.  
  
"Don't worry about that sir," I lowered my voice, "she's in good hands."  
  
Oliver turned a color that put Mother Nature to shame. He stepped out and closed the door on his dad's face.  
  
"What's so important," he growled, clearly embarrassed.  
  
"This," I said, shoving the letter into his hands.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Read," I told him.  
  
He cleared his throat and started: "Dear Miss D'Etoile,  
  
"We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted.." He gaped at the letter.  
  
"Go on!"  
  
".. That you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he paused to stare at me and went on, "We apologize for Salem's School of Witchcraft's neglect to your requirements as a witch. Please buy the following items. Your term begins on August 20 as to prepare you for the coming year and have you sorted. We await your reply no later than July 31. Signed, Professor McGonagall." He stood there looking very stunned for a long time.  
  
"So, do you need help?"  
  
I squealed and ran to hug him. He returned the embrace and told me, "We need to go to London again, do realize that?" I squeezed him again.  
  
Once more, a chill came over me and I looked around to see Mr. Wood watching us from the window.  
  
"Come on in, I'll show you some of the things you need," Oliver said, pulling me through the door.  
  
I was in a whole other world when he shut the door. There was an owl in the living room and a cauldron in the kitchen, boiling over with something purple-ish. I must have looked amazed because Oliver laughed quietly and started pointing things out to me.  
  
".. And to your left you will see a chest filled with the many necessary things you will need for your year at Hogwarts."  
  
"Hogwarts," his dad interrupted, "I thought you said she was a muggle!"  
  
"She was, Da, but she got her letter this morning. She's going to Hogwarts!"  
  
He looked dubious, so I decided to give him proof to believe us.  
  
"Here Mr. Wood, read it," I handed the letter to him.  
  
He quietly studied it for a while and seemed satisfied.  
  
"How did you know to bring it to Oliver? Up to now, you shouldn't have known he was what he is," he snarled, giving me a suspicious glare that bore a hole in me. I was helpless until Oliver spoke up.  
  
"I told her, last night." He looked terrified, but said it anyway. All his father did was stare at us with an evil eye and turn away, saying over his shoulder,  
  
"Show her around, she'll be needin' a heads up on things."  
  
Oliver appeared triumphant and proceeded to show me his books and wand. In the middle of my 'lesson', he brought something to my attention that had a big affect on my balloon of happiness.  
  
"Claire, do your parents know about this? You being a witch and all?"  
  
"Well, of course they - ," I said without thinking. No, come to think of it, I ran out before telling them.  
  
"Oliver, I have to go! They need to know!" Another time, I ran out abruptly on him, I figured it should be our good bye. "Oh! I need my...." I opened the door to find him there holding the letter out for me.  
  
"Thank you," I mouthed, taking it.  
  
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When I told my parents, they were less than ecstatic. My father didn't believe me until he had checked it over no less than ten times for forgery and my mum couldn't grasp the idea I was to live at this place almost all year (save Christmas and Easter break.). She lightened up when I explained to her that I had stayed home four years longer than most kids and schooling was free.  
  
Their first intelligent question was where would I get my supplies, no where in London could you find a place that sold wands and books like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander, although it maybe possible, it is London.  
  
I told them that Oliver and his family would help us because they are magical too, and knew the places these were to be bought at. They finally agreed and I ran to fill him in on when we could go.  
  
A/N - have fun re-reading this a lot; 10 pages on word and it only came out to 5 chapters here, go figure. BTW, Miss pokElilpupE, spread the word please ^.^ 


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